Early
by fmfg
Summary: Rose and Scorpius are in a relationship. Something happens earlier in their relationship that neither of them anticipated.


**Rose's point of view:**

"Were you aware you're pregnant, Miss Weasley?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

Ice cold ran through me. "But we've been using a potion," I argued.

"Which aren't always a hundred percent effective," she said, pursing her lips. "There are a few things we'll go through while I'm treating you. First, you may decide to give your child up for adoption or keep the child, and when you make the decision, I have contacts with the Ministry that will guide you through that process. No matter what you choose, I expect you to contact your parents within the next two weeks. I must warn you, if you do not, I will do it for you. I'll expect one of them to be at our next checkup."

She continued to talk, but I didn't listen.

"You're six weeks along, and you'll have to quit the Quidditch team," she finished.

"But I can't, we have a match this Saturday," I protested.

Madam Pomfrey gave me an irritated look. "I'm sorry, Miss Weasley, but it wouldn't be safe for you or the baby. I've known women who've been injured when playing in the early stages, causing them to miscarry, and I will not take that risk with you."

I nodded numbly.

"I shall see you in two weeks," she said, "with one or both of your parents."

Numbly, I walked down the stairs to our rooms the head boy and girl room joined by a small common room. It was a space I shared with Scorpius, my boyfriend of seven months. I walked through the common room and into the room that was supposed to be just mine, but we both shared. I sat on the comfy arm chair near the fireplace. For an hour I sat there, numb. Eventually, I heard the door open and footsteps become louder. Scorpius came into the room, covered in mud and Quidditch gear.

"Hey," he said, giving me a warm smile. "I'll clean it up." He gestured to the mud on the floor. I usually would've noticed and had thrown a fit, but I didn't care today.

_We're going to have a baby,_ I thought. _I'm pregnant._

Scor flicked his wand, banishing the mud away just before he went into the bathroom. I heard the sound of the shower being turned on, and eventually steam came from the bathroom. Drawing my legs up, I wrapped my arms around them and rested my chin on my knees.

I was going to be a mum, and I wasn't ready. I wanted to go to school and join Mum at the Ministry, not take care of a baby, or at least put off having children until I was older. Tears started to leak down my face just as Scorpius came out of the bathroom, wearing flannel pajama pants and running a towel through his wet hair. I hadn't even thought about how this would impact him, or worse, could cause us to break up. I didn't want to do anything without Scorpius. I loved him.

"I'm exhausted," Scor said, throwing his towel in our hamper. "Practice was brutal. How was-" He stopped talking when he saw my face. "Rose, what's wrong?"

I started to sob. How do I to tell him, and he would he react? I wished I hadn't started to cry because I could've kept this away from him for at least a few more days.

"Rose, baby, you're starting to scare me." Scorpius kneeled in front of me. "Are you sick? Did someone get hurt or …"

I shook my head violently.

"Please tell me what's wrong. It's not like you to cry, and I'm freaking out here," he pleaded.

I calmed myself long enough to blurt out, "I'm pregnant."

Scor's mouth dropped open. Tears still leaked down my cheeks as he dropped back on his rear end. We were silent for a long time as he processed my words.

_He's thinking of a way to end things with me,_ I thought, as he stared at me with his mouth open.

I jumped when he started to laugh.

"You're pregnant? Really?" he asked as he moved to his knees again.

When I nodded, he laughed again and leaned forward to hug me. "This is incredible, Rosy."

"Wait, you're excited about this?" I asked, pushing away from Scorpius; confusion ran over his face.

"Well, yeah. It's earlier than I thought but-"

"Earlier than you thought," I shrieked.

"Well, yes." He stood slowly and rubbed the back of his neck. "I want a family with you, Rosy. I thought you did, too."

"I don't." It broke my heart to see pain flash over his face. We'd discussed having kids last week, admitting I'd want kids one day, after we'd been in careers for a few years. "I mean, not until we're older, and there's school and everything …"

"So what are you planning?" he whispered.

"I won't end it, but I think we need to give it up for adoption. I'm not ready to be a mum," I explained. I held back from saying we aren't ready to be parents. He'd make a wonderful father, and I wasn't the one who wasn't ready.

"You want to go into the Ministry before we have kids," he said, and I nodded. "And I'll support you in that." He stood.

"Thank you," I whispered.

He nodded at me as he grabbed his bag. "I'd better work on my potions essay."

Relief spread through me. "Let me know if you need help."

"Of course." He gave me the smile that made me weak before he rummaged through his bag.

I pulled out parchment and started to write the letter to my parents. I rewrote it four times; they didn't even know about me dating Scorpius (only a few did), so I had a hard time explaining the pregnancy. With shaking hands, I walked slowly up to the owlery. It took me several tries to pin the letter to our owl, Jeffery. I watched him fly away in the darkness until I couldn't see him anymore. When I returned to our rooms, Scorpius was in bed already, laying on his side of the bed, facing away from my side. After changing, I lay down too, expecting him to turn and hold me. I usually fell asleep in his arms.

"Scor?" I asked, reaching out to touch his back.

"Good night, Rosy," he replied, not bothering to turn over.

My heart sank. Something was wrong. It took me hours to fall asleep; why wouldn't Scorpius hold me now? It hadn't made any sense. A combination of Scor's behavior and dread over my parents' reaction to my owl caused sleep to be slow coming.

_I sat cuddled next to Scorpius, his hand splayed against my belly, cupping my flesh around my growing stomach. He smiled as the baby kicked against his hand, making my heart flutter. I jumped when the door burst open, revealing an angry looking Dad. His wand was drawn and his eyes narrowed at Scorpius. _

"_What did you do to my daughter?" he asked, walking slowly into the room. I gasped when Dad sent a curse toward Scorpius, making me cry out._

I jolted awake, my heart thudding. Early morning light filtered into the room. I turned over and closed my eyes, trying to fall asleep. Fifteen minutes later, I showered, finding I couldn't fall asleep again. While I got ready, worry gnawed at my stomach. I pushed the worry out of my mind as I made my way to breakfast, leaving Scorpius still asleep in bed.

Sitting at the Gryffindor table, I scooped bacon and eggs onto my plate. Taking a large bite of eggs stopped the rumbling in my stomach.

"You're up early," Lily commented as she sat across from me.

"Couldn't sleep." I shrugged, hoping she wouldn't pry.

She gave me a strange look but ignored it as I quickly took a few bites of food.

"So, what did Madam Pomfrey want?" Lily asked.

I felt the blood drain away from my face. "Just gave me something for a stomach ache," I said, telling a half-truth.

"Oh, seemed like it was more serious than that," Lily said.

Usually, I loved how perceptive she was; with our large family, it was nice when she noticed that something upset me. Now I hated it.

"Yeah," I said lamely, wanting to tell her the truth, but too scared to.

"Pumpkin juice?" Lily asked as she held a goblet under my nose.

I got a whiff of the juice, which made my stomach lurch. I felt my stomach start to heave. Standing quickly, I made my way to the bathroom, my hand covering my mouth. As soon as I entered the stall, I leaned forward and threw up what little food I ate.

"Rose?" I heard Lily ask as I heaved again.

I felt small hands pull my hair back as I breathed heavily.

"Are you okay?" Lily whispered as she rubbed my back.

"Yeah." I stood, wiping my face with the back of my hand.

"Maybe you should go see Madam Pomfrey," Lily suggested.

"There isn't much she can do," I said as we moved around to the sinks. I turned on the tap and leaned forward to cup water into my mouth. Swishing it around, I cleaned out the taste.

"Oh … what'd she'd say," Lily said. "I'm sure she'd let you get out of classes today since you're sick."

I swallowed and decided that I could trust Lily. "I'm … I'm pregnant," I whispered. "I've had morning sickness." I sighed as I avoided her eyes.

"Rose," Lily whispered. "I knew you and Scorpius were close, but I hadn't realized that you were that close."

I laughed. "Yeah … since the end of last year." I sighed. "Please don't tell anyone. I just found out yesterday."

"Of course I won't." She shrugged nonchalantly. "It's your big news to tell."

"Kind of like you and Casey Wood?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Lily blushed hard. "I didn't think anyone saw us kissing."

"What, you kissed him?" I asked. "I saw you in Hogsmeade."

She blushed. "What about you and Scorpius? You're having a baby. Does he know?" she asked quickly.

"He knows." Tears filled my eyes. "Lily, I'm so scared. I don't want the baby, and I'm afraid of what my parents will say. They'll be so disappointed in me."

"Rose, it's going to be okay." Lily hugged me tight as I started to cry.

"What am I supposed to do?" I sobbed.

"You'll figure it out," she replied. "And they won't be mad forever."

I nodded against her shoulder as my tears slowed. I stood and brushed my final tears away.

"Come on, we'd better eat before class," Lily said, smiling at me.

I nodded. "Just keep the pumpkin juice away from me," I muttered.

"Of course," she replied, giving me a wide smile.

I came out of the bathroom to find Scorpius leaning against the far wall.

"You okay?" he asked, straightening quickly.

"I …. Uhhh," I said.

"I'll save you a seat," Lily said as she headed back into the Great Hall.

"I just had morning sickness," I said. "I guess it doesn't like pumpkin juice."

"I'm sure _it _doesn't," Scorpius retorted storming away.

"Scor," I called after him. "Wait."

Scorpius didn't stop as I watched him go into the Great Hall. I didn't go after him either; my heart sank. Something was very wrong.

After my lessons were over, I went to the rooms, looking forward to having dinner with Scorpius. As soon as I opened the door, I noticed he sat writing a paper in the living room that we shared. I frowned; we'd planned on working on our papers together. Something was very, very wrong.

"I thought you we were going to write this paper together," I said.

"My last class got out early, so I decided to start writing it," he said, not bothering to look up.

I felt my irritation rise. He was ignoring me, something he never did. "Will you at least look at me?"

Scorpius' gray eyes blinked up at me.

"I wanted to work on this with you," I said. "We hardly have any time together, and now you're blowing me off."

"I am not." He sighed. "We can still work on it."

"Scor, what's really going on?" I asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You've been ignoring me since I told you I was pregnant," I said bluntly.

His jaw clenched and was silent for a while. "I've been thinking. I want to keep the baby."

"What?" I whispered. "What about our plans for me to join the Ministry and my mum?"

"You mean your plans?" His jaw worked as he looked at me.

"But … but we talked about this …. We'd focus on careers before starting a family, just like my parents did …"

"And that can't change because?" He raised an eyebrow.

"We're only seventeen, Scorpius," I argued.

"So? This is our child we're talking about," he said in a louder voice.

"And isn't my career important?" I shouted.

"So, our family isn't?" he shouted back. "I knew this would happen. You're too worried about yourself and your career to really want a family with me. That's fine. I can raise the baby by myself."

He stood, stormed into his room, and slammed the door. My heart sank as I sat in the chair. What had just happened?

The next few days passed slowly, and Scorpius and I grew further and farther apart. We didn't talk, wouldn't look at me, and ended up moving back into the other room. It was like I was living with a stranger, and it made me feel lonely and miserable. Friday night came, and instead of returning to the rooms so I could avoid Scorpius, I walked slowly to the library instead.

"Rose," a familiar voice said halfway there. I looked up, seeing Mum walking toward me.

I froze, my eyes went wide. She'd come here to kill me. Tears filled my eyes as I watched her approach me.

"Oh, honey," she said; as soon as she reached me, she wrapped me in her arms.

I sobbed, letting out all of my fear and worry.

"I'm here." Mum rocked me back and forth like she did when I was younger. "Please don't cry," Mum said when we pulled away. She brushed my tears away. "I wanted to talk to you."

I hung my head. "You're angry with me."

"I'm a little disappointed," she said. That stung, and I looked up at her. "But, this kind of thing happens, honey."

"What about Dad?" I whispered, and Mum sighed. "He's furious, isn't he?"

"I think you could be forty-two before you have a kid, and he still wouldn't want to think about his daughter having sex," Mum said bluntly, making me laugh. "Let's go talk somewhere private."

I pulled Mum by the hand into a nearby classroom, closed the door behind us, and locked it with a spell.

"Tell me everything," Mum said, sitting on a desk.

I quickly launched into find out about my pregnancy to my fight with Scorpius.

"You don't seem surprised about Scorpius and me," I said when I finished.

"I have seen the way you've looked at him for years," Mum said, raising an eyebrow. "And I saw you exchanging looks the last two times we were at King's Cross, Rose."

"He is pretty amazing," I said, until I remembered our argument. "What am I going to do, though? He wants to keep the baby, but I said it was too soon. I'd like to have a stable home before I have kids. It's the way I always imagined it."

Mum took my hands as she looked thoughtful. "I think you should consider raising the baby with him."

"But Mum …" I started.

She cut me off with a look. "I don't mean to not go after working in the Ministry," she explained. "Do you see yourself marrying him?" I nodded. "What about having a family together?"

"I love him, Mum," I admitted to her. "It's like I know we're meant for each other."

She cupped my cheek. "I know you can have a family with him and a career with me. It just looks like things aren't going to turn out the way we thought they were. It would be okay to take some time for the baby before you started schooling. Your father and I would be willing to help you out."

"I don't know, Mum," I said, biting my lip.

"Take some time to think about it," Mum said. "I don't want you regret anything. It sounds like Scorpius will raise this baby with or without you, and I don't want your career to get in the way of having a life with him."

"What would you do if you were in my shoes?" I asked.

"I would choose both a career and a family, just like I did with you and your brother." She gave me a hug.

I hugged her back, feeling more confused than ever before.

"We'd better go, Rose," Mum said when she pulled away. "I've set up an appointment with Madam Pomfrey to take a look at the baby."

Thirty minutes later (and a million questions from Mum) I lay on my back as Madam Pomfrey waved her wand over my belly. An image of a small bean hovered over my stomach.

"Your baby looks just as it should, Rose," Madam Pomfrey said.

My mouth ran dry. I really was going to have a baby. I knew what I needed to do.

"Can I have some pictures for Scorpius?" I asked.

"Of course," Madam Pomfrey said.

With a series of waves of her wand, she handed me several pictures of the baby.

"I'm going to have a baby, Mum," I said, smiling at her.

"Yes, you are." She gave me a knowing look.

After a quick good-bye to Mum, I hurried off to our rooms.

"Scor?" I asked as I looked around the rooms. His door was closed again. "Scor?"

"What is it?" he asked after he opened his door.

I half laughed and half sobbed as I held up the pictures. "We're having a baby."

His jaw became slack. "What?"

"I want to have this baby with you," I said. "I want our family early. My career can wait a little, but we're having a baby."

A large smile crossed his face as he took a few strides to where I stood. I squealed when he wrapped his arms around me and swung me around. He laughed loudly in my ear.

"You mean it?" he asked as he set me on my feet, and I nodded.

He pressed his lips to mine, making me lose my breath. "I love you, you know that?"

"I love you too," I said.

"What made you change your mind?" he asked.

"I talked with my mum," I said. "She thought I should consider changing my mind about the baby. We saw Madam Pomfrey for a checkup, and I knew when I saw the image of our baby, I had to try. I had to try for us, Scor."

He laughed and kissed me again. I got lost in his kisses as he held me closer.

"Did you bring me a picture?" he asked when we finally pulled away from each other.

"Of course," I said, realizing that I dropped them. "Here they are." I picked the pictures up and handed them to him.

Pure joy came over his face as he looked at the pictures of our baby. "Thank you for changing your mind."

"Anything for our baby," I said.

Seven and a half months later:

"She's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," I whispered as I held my daughter wrapped in her pink blanket.

"She has your hair," Scorpius said from my side. He ran his finger over her strawberry-blond hair.

"Actually, I'd say she has a mix of our hair," I said. "My hair isn't that light."

"She's perfect." Scor smiled at our daughter.

"What do you want to name her?" I asked.

"Carina?" He looked at me.

"It's beautiful," I said. "Do you think our fathers are ready to see the baby?"

"Hopefully, she'll stop them from fighting," Scor muttered. Our fathers always seemed to have a snide comment to say to the other.

"How could she not?" I cradled my sleeping daughter to my chest. "Go tell them we're ready."

Scorpius opened the door to the private birthing room Madam Pomfrey had set up for us. Our mothers, who got along well with each other, rushed into the room.

"Oh, Rose," Mrs. Malfoy gushed as she came to my bedside. "What a beautiful baby."

"This is Carina," I said as Daddy walked up behind Mum. "Will you hold her first, Dad?"

Dad swallowed as I held out my daughter for him. He still wore the expression of shock he'd had since he found out we were having a baby. He hesitantly stepped forward and held out his hands. He took the baby in his arms and gave a small smile.

"Hey there, Carina," he said softly. "It's Grandpa. Just remember that you like me better than your other grandfather."

Mr. Malfoy snorted and rolled his eyes. Mum sat next to me on the bed and gave me a squeeze.

"I'm glad I listened to you, Mum," I whispered as I watched Dad talk to my daughter.

"I am, too." She smiled at me. "So when can you start with me at work?"

"Mum!" I huffed.

"Just joking," she laughed. "Enjoy your baby while you can. They grow up too fast."

I rested my head on her shoulder, smiling at my daughter. She started to squeak, making Mum smile.

"Oh, you poor thing," Mum said.

"I think it's time we try to nurse," Madam Pomfrey said, stepping up to my left.

Dad handed the baby over, clearing his throat. "I'll just wait over here." He jerked his head toward the windows. As he walked over, Mr. Malfoy joined him.

It took us several moments to get Carina to latch on, but as soon as she did, I felt so bonded to her. My precious little girl needed me. Tears filled my eyes as I thought of what I would be missing if I had given her up.

"I love you so much," I whispered down to her as Carina looked up at me, eyes searching for my voice. "Mummy loves you so much."

I smiled down at her, so glad that we'd been given this chance to be parents.

**Two years later:**

I walked toward my family, holding my degree in one hand and a bouquet of flowers I'd gotten from a professor in the other.

"Mummy!" Carina yelled from Dad's arms. "Mummy!"

"Hello, my baby girl," I said when I reached them, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"I sit wif Grandpa," she said, giving me a huge smile.

"Did you now?" I asked, and she nodded, her pigtails bouncing.

"She sat very well for Grandpa," Dad said, smiling at Carina.

"Grandpa buy ice cream," Carina said, making Dad look ashamed.

"Dad, why are you buying her ice cream?" I asked. "We're going out to dinner now."

"I, uh," Dad said.

I sighed heavily. "Maybe she should sat with Draco," I said dryly, making Dad frown.

"She would've talked him into buying her ice cream. Neither of her grandfathers can say no to her," Mum said, stepping forward to give me a hug. "We're so proud of you."

"Thank you," I said, hugging her back.

Scorpius stepped forward, hugging me and leaning down to give me a kiss.

"Congratulations," he said as he beamed down at me.

"Con-dad-lutions!" Carina called out to me; she loved to copy Scorpius.

I laughed, as Mum took my diploma and flowers. I took Carina in my arms, giving her a hug.

"Are you proud of Mummy graduating?" I asked.

"Yes," Carina said, nodding.

"I think we all are," Scorpius said, wrapping his arm around me.

I smiled up him, cuddling with Scorpius and our daughter. Life couldn't be better.

**Please review! **


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